throughout history, the one meal when we come together, break bread, share our day and connect as a family. [ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh? hey? i paused it. bam, family time. so how is everyone? find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. welcome to inside politics. john king is off today. thanks for sharing part of your

friday the 13th with us. president trump teases his big announcement on the iran nuclear deal. >> in a little while i will be giving a speech on iran. a terrorist nation like few others and i think you will find it very interesting. >> that will come hours after the president delivered another blow to obamacare, cutting subsidies to insurers. democrats call it sabotage. he calls it a promise kept. >> these are massive bail outs to insurance companies. >> lawsuits? >> there may be lawsuits, but they are not going to win. >> a long time republican senator and trump critic makes a big decision about her political future. >> i want to continue to play a key role in advancing policies

that strengthen our nation. >> as a candidate, donald trump repeatedly pledged to dismantle two things president obama considered his signature achievements. obamacare and the iran nuclear deal. today president trump is taking steps to fulfill those promises. later this hour, the president will announce a new strategy on iran and he is using his executive power to unravel president obama's affordable care act. we will have more on that with the panel in a moment. i want to start with cnn's chief national security correspondent and jim, we talked about this on the program. we talked about this behind the scenes here. the president plans to decertify that iran is complying with the nuclear deal. he is not scrapping the deal. it's a significant difference. explain how this was put together. >> a significant difference for now. it's a punt, but to torture the

metaphor, the ball is uns bouncing around on the field. he decertifies it and punts to congress. congress has the power to reimpose sanctions on iran. it's not clear that that's what they are going to do. that there are the votes for that. what they are asking to do short of that is to set new trigger points into the agreement where for instance if iran doesn't comply with restrictions, those would be the trigger points and congress or the u.s. would in effects reimpose sanctions or impose new sanctions on iran. the trouble is to do that and pass legislation to a pose trigger points, that requires 60 votes in the senate. you would need eight democrats to get on board. that's something that is not clear that would happen. at which point if congress doesn't deliver on the pathway that the president is asking them to do so, the president could then tear up the deal as

he is promised here. this is a punt, but it's a punt with consequences and unclear now how this ends up. today the iran deal is not being torn up at a later date. if congress doesn't act as he is demanding they do, that's a real possibility. >> thank you for that reporting and here at the table to share their insights and reporting, michael shear of the "new york times." julie pace and perry bacon with an excellent tie. the federalist mary katherine. i'm not saying your tie is not cool too. let's pick up where he left off. the notion that this is certainly a big deal that he, the president will say he is not going to certify that iran is complying with the tenets of the nuclear agreement. i want to show you something that aaron david miller who is an expert on the mideast tweeted. to paraphrase seinfeld, he

probably gets money for that, new iran policy is show and nothing. dessert will leave deal intact and more talk than action against iran in the region. he has a point. >> he does. if you take his point and jim's point which is that the president is taking a step created by congress under the obama administration. you have a lot of allies and other partners in the deal who worry that he is putting the u.s. on a slippery slope. what we have seen is pressure on the administration from overseas and internal adviser who is want the president to stay in the deal. they think it's not a great deal, but it's the deal we have.

they will say we are taking tougher action and going after iran on all the things that are not a party to the nuclear deal. financing the terrorist groups and also looking at the u.s. to stay where they are. >> what could go wrong? about what the president is going to announce, this is the pathway that provides us with the best platform to attempt to fix this deal. is that wishful thinking? >> i think partly because the thing with the iran deal is a global agreement between a bunch of nations. the idea was that yes, there would be ways for countries to make an assessment that iran was not living up to the agreement,

but it would be done in concert with these other countries. if iran was not living up to the deal and there would be a consensus that that was the case and action would be taken together. what was not contemplated was this idea that one country and especially the united states would decide on a win that is not working and the rest of the world was going to disagree. that's where the end game is so uncertain. whether congress does it or trump does it, what happens after that? the rest of the world indicated they are not going to be in the same place. >> on that note, another thing that tillerson said to reporters, he said on the question of whether allies and those who have signed the sig tories can trust the united states again, his response was i think they can trust. we will never do a deal this weak again. we will do a deal, but it's going to be a deal that meets the needs of what we see as preventing nuclear

proliferation. >> it wasn't contemplated. it should have been contemplated. while this was being enacted, there was not exactly small problems with it. that was the reason it didn't go through congress. >> chuck schumer didn't support it. >> it was to assume everything would go fine and they would adopt this agreement to be ex-elected. he could have ripped it up on day one if he wanted to. he has not and that signals that he probably does not want to. kicking it to congress, i'm not sure how that goes, but they have not been super successful. because of this past problem with this deal being too soft on iran, i wonder if there is a possibility and i don't know in the era of trump how that plays out. >> there is bipartisan disgust with iran. never mind the notion of them getting a nuclear weapon or capability, but also about the

fact that the state sponsors of terrorism and they have this ballistic missile program that they are pushing and those are the kinds of things that the trump administration and many people in congress on both sides of the aisle want to make a much more holistic strat skree and that's what we will hear from the president today. we will see democrats disagreeing with that. >> it's true and it's odd that we announce that the president is deferring to congress. all this build up and the big speech that he is not really going to do anything or take big action. it seems like he doesn't want to certify the deal. he doesn't top the do that a third time and we look to the president to make the decision and he's not willing to do that in this case. because of the law that congress passed requires a president to certify every 90 days. he did it holding his nose with

his congresses behind his back. he did it. this time he said no, let's come up with his advisers come up with a broader policy. talking about congress, it's not bipartisan yet, but senator bob corker who has been in the news a lot and the chair and tom cotton who is one of the most conservative and hawkish in the caucus do have proposed legislation. they call it fixing the iran deal. among the things it would try to do is effectively end the sunset which is a big problem. you see for a lot of conservatives. here's the key thing. automatic snap back of sanctions should iran go under a one-year break out period and move closer to a nuclear weapon. the sanctions are the key area that congress has been playing with.

as part of the deal in addition to the sanctions, they are talking about bolstering the verification and eliminating the program as some of the things that many people thought were problematic with the deal. in keeping to what congress can do. >> sanctions is e imposing and the thing that would kill the nuclear deal. >> certification and decertification is a technical term. >> just to go back in time, part of the deal was iran agreed to this limited nuclear capability as long as the u.s. and other countries stopped sanctioning the country. >> exactly. the act of the u.s. reimposing is something a lot of people were worried it would do at this phase of the game. he is putting this on congress and you will have support, bipartisan support for the idea of coming up with a window. a specific window and a timeline for the iranian nuclear program

and we see this progress and we see it there within the one-year break out point and we will reimpose sanctions and that would completely undermine the deal. how iran would react to that and how europeans would react to that. they are going into iran and making deals that are putting money on the ground there. how they would react is uncertain. >> this reality check about congress, let's remind people what they have on their plate. the budget and tax reform, daca, dealing with the dreamers. obamacare and this iran deal. there is probably a reason why all of those so far have incomplete grades. >> for sure. this is up in the air. the thing that critics including democrats had an issue with the iran deal is it made the break out period incomplete and sanctioned by us. that's what people were upset

about. a snap back and response to that make perfect sense and make it simpler by congress. that's something that could have gotten democratic support in the past. we shall see in the future. >> fascinating. we have a lot more to talk about including the president ending what he calls bail outs for insurance companies and it may affect the very people who voted for him.

these make cleaning between myi love easy.sy. gum brand for healthy gums. soft picks, proxabrush cleaners, flossers. gum brand. >> republicans in congress may have failed to repeal obamacare, but the president is using his pen and executive power to make signifi cant changes. president trump will immediately stop paying a key set of obamacare subsidies to insurers. they were created to help nearly 6 million lower income americans to be able to afford coverage

and cost the government nearly $7 billion this year alone and this makes a huge difference in out of pocket costs for those folks. for example, on a traditional silver plan, for those who are just above the poverty line, the subsidy lowers the average deductible to $225 a year. without it, it is $3600 a year. you can see the big difference it makes. the president touched on this earlier today when he spoke at the value voters summit. >> you saw what we did with respect to health care. it's step by step by step. we are taking a little different route than we hoped because getting congress, they forgot what their pledges were. we are going a little different route, but you know what, in the end it's going to be just as effective and maybe better. >> one of our colleagues said elections have consequences day.

this is a perfect why of why. >> this is another example of the weakness of the pen and phone presidenting by obama. these subsidies were never created by congress. that's the problem. when the house sued, they went to a federal judge and said yeah, these have to be authorized by congress. you can't just give $7 billion to insurance companies to cover up the cost of these plans. >> it was done by executive order to begin with. >> on a constitutional level you have to figure out a different way to do it if you are going do the backdoor payments. you should do it by letter of the law. how does it affect people? it goes to the insurance companies and not to the folks and laws require the insurance companies to work on some of these cost sharing prices themselves. they are not going to be doing it with taxpayer money. it is an open question what that looks like. >> you are right, but in the meantime knowing the way congress is working or not working on this, let's look at

another fact about how this impacts real people. we are talking about individuals earning less than $30,000 a year. family of four earning less than $61,000 a year. >> the subsidies are not clear that costs will go up. >> have you met an insurance company some they don't suck up the cost. >> they will subsidize this. this is part of the law. if you look at what happened the last seven or eight months from stopping limited inrollment to not encouraging the law to criticizing it in public. we are looking at three years from now, we may have obamacare repeal in some ways done with the executive branch. that's what tom price is doing. trump campaign, i think he said what he is doing. we couldn't do the repeal through congress, but we will

change the law in the way we think it should happen in the executive branch. >> i want you to weigh in on this as well. this is a specific subsidy to insurance companies and we are not talking about medicare expansion that really helps a bigger swath of people. the president was also consistent on not hurting working people and people who need it the most. listen to what he told me about a month into his campaign in july of 2015. >> people have no money, i want to try to help those people. i don't think there is anything wrong with that. you have to help the people. can you imagine you have no money and you get sick like somebody else. you have noplace to go? you know what, if i lose votes over that or don't get a nomination over that, that's fine with me. >> it would be government assistance. >> you have to help people. what do they do? they are sick and they are supposed to sit in their homes and just die?

>> look, i think that it's just so striking to see that and contrast with what the president has been doing as perry described it step by step. there is two things to think about. while there are technical reasons to think that the insurance companies are not going to be able to simply take away the subsidies to some of these people because the law requires them. they can and have already raised premium prices to cover the fact that they are going to have to suck up the $7 billion that they are now going to have to eat during 2018. the other thing we should talk about is the politics of this. the president was interesting when he talked today about how well congress has not done. they forgot their promises. do you know who he is talking about? he is talking about republicans and not democrats.

republicans who said they were going to repeal obamacare. 2018 is just around the corner. he's setting up a dynamic where he is chipping away at the law and not putting anything else in place. what are these republicans going to run on when they face their constituent who is have seen premium increases or coverage losses? >> some republicans are actually feeling like trump is putting them in a position to save obamacare or the outlines of obamacare. if he create this is gap where he is taking things away and there is no solution being put on the table, they are the ones who have to work within the confines of the system and they realize congress is in a rough spot to do a broad repeal. that's uncomfortable heading into a mid-term. >> and democrats are pounding. i want to read you the tweets. chuck schumer said it is a

spiteful act of pointless sabotage levelled at working families and the middle class in every corner of america. bob casey got the sabotage memo saying congress must work to reverse this sabotage if donald trump is unwilling to follow the law. congress must force him to. after this sabotage, republicans own the price of health care totally. if they want to lower cost, legislative fix is rate for a vote. retiring republican congressman charlie dent who many feel able to say whatever they want, they kind of agreed with the idea that it's trump's problem now. and republicans. take a listen. >> we at the end of the day will own this. we at the republican party will own this. i believe -- >> that is different from what we have heard from republicans. they said this is on obama. trump himself said it.

you say now republicans own this? >> well, barack obama is a former president. president trump is the president. he's a republican and we control the congress. so we own the system now. so we are going to have to figure out a way to stabilize this situation. barack obama is no longer in the equation. this is on us. >> he's not wrong. >> i think trump would hint and say if this market is not working, this market was not working when i came in and it's not working more now that will inspire congress to pass a bill along that lines. it may not work. yesterday's executive order is not that everyone's cost will go up or down. if you are young and healthy, yesterday's executive order may reduce your cost, but it may be harder to get insurance than before. they were redistributing money and income.

it's not like it hurrs or helps. trump is aimed in a lot of ways. obamacare was focused with the design to push money towards low income people with a lot of rules. this idea may if you are in upper middle class may reduce your cost zone and the cost sharing is changing in a lot of ways. >> stand by. go ahead. give me your final thought. >> a lot of this stuff with the subsidies was not allowed. he was following along that front. he will face the weaknesses of the phone and the pen presidenting with the executive order stuff that can cut down on mandates and offer more choice to people who could get less expensive and less overhead and attract more people to the market and make a difference and it could be wiped out by the next president. >> true. >> the key senate republican who opposed her health care bills decided if she wants to stay in that job. stay with us. hey allergy muddlers

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>> welcome back. you are looking at a live picture of the white house. inside the white house the diplomatic reception room. you can see people getting ready for the speech that spruchl going to give within the half hour with a broader approach to iran beyond the nuclear program as he certifies the obama era nuclear deal. we will take you to the speech when he begins. meanwhile, one key republican senator had a big speech of her. susan collins of maine. she is the only republican in the senate from new england and

is often a lonely moderate voice in her gop caucus. one of the reason she was mulling over leaving the senate and going back to maine and run for governor. what was her choice? >> i want to continue to play a key in advancing policies that strengthen our nation and i concluded that the best way that i can contribute to these prirds is to remain a member of the united states senate. >> her leader, the republican leader mitch mcconnell praised collins's decision to stay and said senator collins never misses votes and fights fiercely for constituents and brings leadership to every issue. her decision is important not only for the people of maine,

but the people she serves as well as the nation. usually when a single senator makes an announcement to stay or go, it's like okay. this was a big one. >> it's for keeping the job. it's important to hold that seat. she is in the center of every event and really in a generation ago. the vote on health care and daca really matters. i can imagine her wanting to stay here and the action. >> republicans only have a 52-seat majority. they can only afford to lose -- never mind if they neat 60 votes, but on basic votes, they can only afford to lose two. to be one of them and has been in a lot of the votes. >> she is one of the focal

points. she is more moderate and she is someone who democrats look to to either side with them on an issue or take a no vote on an issue or on health care and numerous policy. she has stuck to this moderate position and about the decision she makes, when you talk to senators and talk to house members right now, congress is not a particularly appealing place to be. they don't feel like they are making progress on a lot of key issues and a lot of ways being a governor does put you into position to be more impactful for the constituents you serve. for a lot of lawmaker who are bailingly out. >> when you go to a food taste or republican lunch, she is often at odds with her constituencies. it's not just on health care. she is one of a number of republicans on the senate

intelligence committee who has been investigating on the issue of russia and collusion. listen to what she told me. >> i do not think his investigation should be constrained beyond the mandate he was given when he was -- >> the president called that a red line. >> the president can't set red lines for bob mueller. >> that was in august. pretty aggressive. bob mueller should have a very wide net. >> i agree with julie that there is a lot of times -- i covered a governor and there is a lot of times that people really like that because it does feel like you are accomplishing something as an executive you can get something done. what may be tilting in the other direction for folks like susan colins is the stakes right now. the conversation about the russia investigation and other things that are going on right now. it sets a pretty high bar for

importance. there is a sense that if you are at the center of that and part of helping to shape the direction of the country at pretty critical times, you don't want to leave that. >> elsewhere in the within party, the president spoke at the value voter's summid this morning and he gave every single line in a way that was intended to be perfect for the audience and that part of the gop base. listen. >> we respect our great american flag. guess what. we are saying merry christmas again. bureaucrats think they can run your lives and overrule your values. meddle in your faith and tell you how to live. what to say and how to pray. in america, we don't worship government. we worship god. >> this was one of the things

that blew my mind. i have been covering politics and primary politics for many elections. the idea that evangelicals liked this guy who talks the talk more than he walks the walk and would be the first to admit it and they eat it up. explain. >> they know he is not walking the walk. a huge part of the election broadly was a bunch of senators and many religious people feeling like they were being culturally believed and losing every battle. a bully of their own came along and said if he is going to throw punches for me, i will hire that guy. the thing i say is the good news is most of trump's voters are nicer than trump. you can connect with them. that's what's going on. we will hire our bully and he will land punches. >> it is about the culture war. he has continued that. look at the nfl. he continued that in the white house. >> he is walking the walk and he

may not go to church every day, but he is enacting the christian agenda. he has been on the issues in some ways more than bush was even in the right place. i'm not surprised she very strong evangelicals. he has done what they asked him to do. >> president trump is set to unveil a new more combative approach to iran. we will take you there live. he said he is not quitting and getting fired. he is not frustrated. the chief of staff toll the media we are the ones getting it wrong. we will talk to white house reporters after this. i promise. to have and to hold from this day forward. till death do us part. selectquote can help you keep your promise. with life insurance starting under $1 per day. but you promised, dad. come on. selectquote helped jim, 41, keep his promise by finding him a $500,000 policy for under $27 per month.

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>> welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we are waiting for president trump to give his speech on the iran nuclear deal expected to start any moment and we promise we will bring it to you as soon as it begins. yawn kelly has a message. he is not going anywhere. for 30 minutes, the chief of staff sparred with reporters on his first appearance in the briefing room. he said he is not there to control the president, but wants to ensure mr. trump is getting the best information possible and had a lot of self depricating humor that he would get or be fired and teased reporters and made fun of some of the those infamous pictures listening to the president with his head in his hands. >> i'm not quitting today. i don't believe and i just

talked to the president, i don't think i'm being fired today. you guys catch me when i'm thinking hard and it looks like i'm frustrate and mad. one of his frustrations is you. all of you. not all of you, but many of you. by the way, as i listen to that, that face i had on was my listening intently face. one more. who is the lucky one? >> the chief of staff got very good reviews for his performance, but he may want to be careful with that. stories like this one, "time" magazine cover over the summer tend to annoy this president who likes to be the on the "time" magazine cover. he likes the spotlight to be on him. let's turn to the two of you guys in the briefing room. and i will start with you. you are one of the people who is

an objective reporter and saw this moment as a breath of fresh air and gave him high remarks. do you think this in terms of a beat reporter and the way you have to deal with this white house and get information or even the admonths fearics, is this a sprl that things will change? >> i hope so. i covered all eight years of the obama presidency. you are never friends with the people you cover, nor should you be. we are all in this together and we might as well not take ourselves overly seriously. that performance was more like what we normally get from press secretaries and communications people and staff the the white house. we are talking about serious issues, but there is a give-and-take and we are having fun. if that had been the message and the kind of relationship that would develop at the beginning

of this administration, there would be a different tone in washington or in that building. think back to the first day that sean spicer came out after the inauguration and all of the contenduous yelling and screaming. that has been a different tone. to that extend, if what happened with kelly yesterday is a signal of a different tone, at least from the perspective of reporters in that building, that's a good thing. >> something on the page of the "washington post" today, jennifer ruben was a republican and a trump critic said this. he was careful to say he was sent in not to manage the president. that might be true, but if the way to manage the white house is to ignore the president continually reinterpreting or ignoring the outlandish utterances. it seems the congress and the american people should know about it. >> kelly has been pushing this

message. his allies have been pushing the message. what bothered the president about his other advisers is the perception that they are trying to manage him. they are trying to cut back on the tweets and get him to read off the teleprompter. kelly has been sensitive to the idea that i'm the chief of staff. the staff, i am helping him get better information, but hands off on the other pieces of it. what he is hoping to do and a lot of people are hoping he will do is show the president that taking this more measured calibrated approach in the west wing can bear positive results. congress will react more positively and the american people will react positively and he won't feel the need to throw the twitter bombs. that may be wishful thinking that is so baked in, but he is hoping to avoid having to manage him and have trump lead himself there. >> we will get more on the other side. we are awaiting the president announcing a new strategy towards iran beyond the nuclear

program. we will bring that to you live. stay with us. crohn's disease.

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>> any minute we are going to hear from the president. you are looking at a live picture of the diplomatic reading room where he will deliver his remarks and new strategy on iran. as soon as he comes to the podium. in the meantime we had to talk about paul ryan and puerto rico. house speaker paul ryan is leading a delegation now to puerto rico. lawmakers are going to meet with local officials and first responders and get a first land look at the devastation plaguing the island three weeks after hurricane maria. this morning president trump offered a different stance on puerto rico. >> i went to puerto rico and i met with the president of the virgin islands. these are people that are

incredible people. they suffered greatly and we will be there. we are going to be there. really it's not even a question of a choice. we don't want a choice. we are going to be there as americans. we love those people and what they have gone through. >> what are a difference a day makes. it was yesterday he tweeted we cannot keep fema, the military and first responders who have been amazing. let's listen to the president. >> thank you very much. my fellow americans, as president of the united states, my highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the american people. history has shown that the longer we ignore a threat, the more dangerous that threat becomes. for this reason upon taking office, i ordered a complete strategic review of our policy

towards the rogue regime in iran. that review is now complete. today i am announcing our strategy along with several major steps we are taking to confront the iranian regime's hostile actions and ensure iran never and i mean nevera, choirs a nuclear weapon. our policy is based on clear assessment of iranian dictatorship. the sponsorship of terrorism. the continuing aggression in the mideast and all-around the world. iran is under the control of a fanatical regime that seized power in 1979 and forced a proud people to submit to its extremist rule.

this radical regime has raided the wealth of one of the world's oldest and most vibrant nations and spread death, destruction, and chaos around the globe. beginning in 1979, agents of the iranian regime illegally seized the u.s. embassy in tehran and held more than 60 americans hostage during the 444 days of the crisis. the iranian backed terrorist group hezbollah twiced lebanon and once in 1983 and again in 1984. another bomb killed 241 americans. service members they were, in

their barracks in beirut in 1983. in 1996, the regime directed another bombing of american military housing in saudi arabia, murdering 19 americans in cold blood. iranian proxies provided training to operatives who were later involved in al qaeda's bombing of the american embassies in kenya, tanzania and killing 224 people and wounding more than 4,000 others. the regime harbored high level terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks including osama bin laden's son. in iraq and afghanistan, groups supported by iran killed hundreds of american military personnel. the iranian dictatorship's

aggression continues to this day. the regime remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. and provides assistance to al qaeda, the taliban, hezbollah, hamas and other terrorist networks. it develops, deploys and proliferates missiles that threaten troops and their allies. it harasses american ships and threatens freedom of navigation in the arabian gulf and the red sea. it imprisons americans on false charges. it launches cyber attacks against our critical infrastructure, finance system and military. the united states is far from the only target of the iranian dictatorship's tam pain of

bloodshed. the regime violently is you presses its own citizens and shot unarmed student protesters in the street during the green revolution. this regime has fuelled sectarian violence in iraq and vicious civil wars in yemen and syria. in syria, the iranian regime supported the a processities of al-assad's regime and condoned use of chemical weapons against helpless civilians including many, many children. given the regime's past and present, we should not take lightly the sinister vision for the future. the regime's two favorite chants are death to america and death to israel. realizing the gravity of the

situation, the united states and the united nations security council sought over many years to stop iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons with a wide array of strong economic sanctions. the previous administration lifted the sanctions just before what would have been the total collapse of the iranian regime. through the deeply controversial 2015 nuclear deal with iran. this deal is known as the joint comprehensive plan of action or jcpoa. as i have said many times, the iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the united states has ever entered into. the same mind set that produced this deal is responsible for years of terrible trade deals

that have sacrificed so many millions of jobs in our country to the benefit of other countries. we need negotiators who will much more strongly represent america's interest. the nuclear deal is a political and economic lifeline providing urgently needed relief from the intense domestic pressure, the sanctions had created. it also gave the regime an immediate financial boost. and over $100 billion dollars its government could use to fund terrorism. the regime also received a massive cash settlement of $1.7 billion from the united states, a large portion of which was physically loaded on to an airplane and flown into